Comment on the Energy Distribution of Excited Recoil Atoms

Abstract

In studies of the charge and excitation state of sputtered atoms [1–4], some knowledge is required about the energy spectrum of the flux of excited recoil atoms. It is the purpose of this note to demonstrate, on the basis of a simple model, that this energy spectrum may differ substantially from the equivalent spectrum of all (excited and unexcited) recoil atoms, and to provide qualitative insight into where the main differences should be expected.